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The Legend of Zelda

Two novels prove Zelda Fitzgerald's life remains almost as fascinating as her husband's fiction.

By

Ruth Scurr

May 3, 2013 4:24 p.m. ET

'Work of a Wife' was the title Time magazine gave to an article about Zelda Fitzgerald's artistic pretensions in 1934. "There was a time when Mrs Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was a more fabulous character than her novel-writing husband," the acerbic piece began. Zelda was exhibiting her paintings in a New York gallery; her first novel, "Save Me the Waltz," had been published in 1932. Written over two months in a psychiatric hospital, the book generated mixed reviews and scant sales and was not the vindication of creative prowess she had promised herself. Admirably resilient in the circumstances, she...